


Home Sweet Home

by ArgyleMN



Series: It Couldn't Wait Another Moment [3]
Category: The Royal Romance (Visual Novel)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Banter, Domestic Fluff, F/M, Implied Sexual Content, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-22
Updated: 2020-07-08
Packaged: 2021-03-03 21:46:47
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 6,263
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24862516
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ArgyleMN/pseuds/ArgyleMN
Summary: A collection of vignettes set in the few months after Drake and Riley move into their new apartment. Set in my "It Couldn't Wait Another Moment" universe.
Relationships: Drake Walker/Main Character (The Royal Romance)
Series: It Couldn't Wait Another Moment [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1739290
Comments: 4
Kudos: 8





	1. Pain Control

Drake blinked slowly, trying to orient himself. The sunlight in his eyes and the quiet all around him was unsettling, but he couldn’t figure out why. He glanced around the room, waking up bit by bit with every second that passed as he took in stacks of cardboard boxes that towered over him, old hardwood flooring that was way too close to where he was sleeping, and finally Riley’s bare back next to him, her hair basically covering her face.

Right. Their new apartment. Even though they’d been planning for their move for weeks, Drake was still a bit out of sorts waking up in a new place. Yesterday had been long, annoying, and exhausting. Maxwell had come to New York to help, per their earlier arrangement, but his “help” had basically consisted of him standing by the truck they’d rented while he and Riley had hauled everything down three flights of steps at her old building and then up another one at the new building. Maxwell insisted this saved time because they didn’t need to lock up the truck with each load, but Drake was pretty sure only having two thirds of the people there actually loading and unloading was a bad approach.

But regardless, they’d gotten everything unloaded, allowing Drake to go drop off the truck just before the rental place closed while Riley and Maxwell had gone to grab some pizza which they’d eaten on the floor, their table still just a pile of legs next to the top that was propped against the end of the kitchen counter. After their late dinner, Maxwell had made a hasty departure, insisting he didn’t want to be a third wheel, but Drake had a suspicion he was looking to hit up a bar or nightclub instead of helping them unpack. Honestly, they hadn’t gotten far, basically just finding a set of sheets and their pillows before brushing their teeth and collapsing onto the mattress they’d placed on the living room floor for now, the bedframe still in pieces in the bedroom.

Now that he was waking up more fully, Drake began to notice twinges and aches through his arms and back. The soreness from all of yesterday’s heavy lifting was hitting him hard, and today they still had a ton of work to do, like reconstructing their furniture, unpacking enough clothing for them both to have things to wear to work this week, and clearing a path for the couch that was getting delivered tomorrow from the furniture warehouse. Even with all of that ahead of them today, Drake felt surprisingly alert and energized. Probably because last night had been some of the best sleep he’d had in months. He was sure that was partially due to how exhausted he’d been, but he was also realizing that this might be one of the only times since moving to New York that he hadn’t been woken up by loud, drunken assholes numerous times on a Saturday night. Even now, their new neighborhood was quiet and peaceful. It was a great feeling.

Stretching slightly, Drake swung his legs over and stood up off the mattress, wandering around as he tried to find a box labelled “Bathroom” in hopes of finding some ibuprofen. He’d made his way into the bedroom and was digging through the only “Bathroom” box he’d seen without any luck when he heard a chirping sound coming from the other room. Shit. He’d left his phone by the mattress, and it must have been time for his alarm to go off.

Ignoring the way his muscles protested as he stood up from the box he was crouching over, he walked back into the living room as quickly and as quietly as he could. He hoped he could get to his phone before Riley woke up, but the grumbled “Dammit” he heard told him he was too late. Sure enough, there was Riley, reaching across the mattress and grabbing around on the floor, trying to find his phone without fully lifting her head off the pillow.

Kneeling down on his side of the mattress, Drake quickly silenced his alarm with one hand while grabbing Riley’s with his other. She barely squinted her eyes open at his touch, her voice still groggy and sleepy as she said, “You get up too early.”

“Sorry,” Drake said, setting his phone back down before reaching over and brushing some of her hair out of her face. The sunlight was casting a sort of heavenly glow across her skin, a direct contrast to the next words out of her mouth.

“What the fuck were you up doing anyway?” She pushed herself up slightly on her arms and twisted her back to face him better.

“Looking for some pain killers,” Drake said, unable to resist sliding his fingers over her shoulder and back, tracing gentle patterns across her skin.

“You check my purse?”

He shook his head and moved to stand up, intending to go grab her purse, but he was surprised when she tugged on his hand, pulling him closer to her. “Just how sore are you?”

Drake shrugged, his nose brushing against hers as her hand reached up and slid through his hair. “It’s not terrible.”

Riley squinted at him for a second, most likely trying to judge how much he was downplaying things. “Well, at least Maxwell will actually have to help today. No damn truck for him to guard.”

Drake chuckled, but was cut off as Riley closed the gap between them, kissing him as she threaded her fingers fully into his hair and tugged lightly. He groaned, reaching up to clutch her shoulder. It didn’t take long for him to realize that Riley wanted to escalate things as she slid her hands to his back and tugged him more fully onto the mattress and over her as she deepened the kiss.

“Liu,” he groaned out as her lips traveled down his throat, “you gotta slow down.”

She pulled back, dropping her head against the pillow with her lips pressed into a frown. “Don’t you want to officially… _christen_ our new place?” she asked before sliding her hand slowly down his chest, her fingers brushing so gently in a gesture of pretend innocence.

He swallowed roughly and closed his eyes, trying to remember why giving in to her teasing was a bad idea. “I do, but Maxwell is gonna be here in an hour, and we need to go get some breakfast before then.”

He let his eyes open when her fingers left his chest. She had rolled just slightly to the side, grabbing her phone off the floor. She typed something in quickly, then set her phone back down. “Maxwell’s gonna bring bagels and coffee,” she said before swinging a leg up and over his hip. 

“He offered?”

“Nope, but I asked nicely,” Riley replied before digging her foot into his back, clearly trying to urge him closer to her.

“And you trust that he’ll listen?” Drake asked, not budging just yet. It would be just their luck for Maxwell to show up hungry and start whining that they didn’t have anything for him to eat.

“Yes, because I told him it was the price of entry for anyone who didn’t carry at least ten boxes yesterday.” She cocked an eyebrow and applied more pressure with her foot. “Unless you’re too worn out,” she challenged.

“For you, Liu? Never.” Drake finally let his body sink against hers, capturing her lips in a rough kiss as he did so. His last fully formed thought before letting his mind completely fill with _her_ was that it was probably a bad idea to do this before taking that ibuprofen. Oh well. She was always worth a little pain.


	2. Party of Two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Drake wasn’t kidding when he told Riley that he preferred when people didn’t make a big deal out of his birthday. She has plans to challenge that belief.

Drake had been a little nervous all day. He’d told Riley over and over again that he didn’t want to do anything for his birthday. Maxwell had been in town last weekend for their move, and the dinner out with him was plenty. He didn’t want gifts or balloons or cake, particularly if Riley was going to attempt to bake one herself. He didn’t want to go out to some restaurant or meet up with their friends or worst of all, have some surprise party. He just wanted a quiet night in. Riley trading weekends with Robyn so she would have this one off was more than enough.

Riley had seemed unconvinced though, repeatedly asking him if he was sure he didn’t want to go to a bar or something. She even brought up renting a cabin for the weekend like they did over New Year’s, saying they could camp if the weather was nice, but that way they would be fine if it was raining. It was a nice idea, but it seemed like an unneeded stress, particularly since they were still living out of boxes, and an unneeded expense. At the end of the day, his birthday just wasn’t a big deal to him. Liam had shipped him a very expensive bottle of Highland Park whiskey. He was perfectly happy to enjoy that with Riley and call it a night.

But Riley had been skeptical for the past few weeks. It was clear she didn’t want to let the day pass by like it was basically any other day. “It’s your thirtieth,” she’d insisted over and over. He knew she was trying to do something nice for him, but as he told her last year, birthdays hadn’t been his thing, not for a long time. But he had the sense Riley was determined to correct that attitude. The fact that they had barely moved into their new place meant he was sure he wasn’t going to come home to dozens of people he barely knew or cared about yelling out “Surprise!” but he had been expecting her to pop by the financial firm with a bunch of balloons or something. He’d been tense all day, waiting for his coworkers to know, but he’d made it through the entire day without a single “Happy Birthday.” Now, on his walk home from their subway station, he was finally starting to unwind. Maybe Riley had decided to let it be after all. Worst case scenario was probably her insisting on going out for dinner, and he would likely be able to talk her down to takeout.

As he unlocked the door and walked into their apartment, he wasn’t surprised that Anderson trotted over to greet him at the door. He crouched down to scratch him between the ears as he called out, “Liu, does he need to go out?”

“No, I already fed him and took him for a walk.” Her reply was shockingly loud and close, so Drake bolted upright as Anderson ran back to the chair by the window he’d claimed as “his” spot, spinning slightly and taking in the sight in front of him.

Riley was something to behold, perched on the corner of the kitchen counter. Her legs were bare, one dangling casually down in front of the drawer and cupboard, the other elevated as she braced her foot against the counter. Her arm was draped over her knee, holding onto a glass of whiskey with a bright red lipstick mark along the rim. Her hair was tousled and loose, and he couldn’t be sure if she was wearing any makeup other than her lipstick. It was all fucking sexy, but as if it wasn’t enough, she was only wearing one of his old denim shirts, just a couple of buttons done in the middle. On her, it was loose and slouchy, showing off glimpses of white lace with gold stitching across her breasts. Drake was sure the whole getup was the hottest thing he’d ever seen. He knew he probably looked like a gobsmacked idiot, just standing there, gawking at his girlfriend, but he couldn’t help it.

After several tense moments, Riley quirked an eyebrow up at him, and it somehow spurred Drake into action. “Wearing that?” he asked as he walked over to join her in the kitchen.

“Hmmm?”

“Were you wearing _that_ when you took Anderson out?” he asked, grabbing her ankle and tugging her foot off the counter, hooking her leg loosely around his hip.

“Nah, I figured you would appreciate this casual Friday look more if I reserved it for inside our apartment,” she replied with a coy little shrug as she took a sip of the whiskey.

“Casual Friday, huh? No other reason for this particular get up?” Drake said, tugging at the vee created by his shirt that dipped obscenely low the way she had it done up, soaking in the lingerie set that made her look like a fucking angel that she had on underneath it. The set he’d told her was way too expensive until the first time he’d seen her in it, at which point he was pretty sure he would have sold everything he owned, including a kidney, just to see her in it again. 

“What other reason would I have? You repeatedly told me today was just like any other day.”

Drake just shook his head as he grabbed the glass of whiskey from her hand, taking a sip of it before passing it back to her.

“I know you didn’t want to make your birthday a big deal,” she said, accepting the glass back from him, “but I figured I could at least cook you dinner.”

Drake glanced around the kitchen, verifying that she hadn’t inevitably burnt or ruined a bunch of food, but no pots, pans, or bowls were in sight and the oven was safely off.

“Ah, yes. I see you’ve noticed that I hit a small snag in my plan,” Riley continued, nudging the back of his leg with her foot, prompting him to take a step closer between her legs, bringing himself right up against the counter, “We haven’t really unpacked much of our kitchenware.”

“Yeah, and you can’t fucking cook,” Drake added, placing one hand on the counter next to her, sliding his other up her thigh, watching his fingers disappear under his shirt, feeling the lace that was still partially hidden from him. 

“That too. Anyway, I had to come up with a new plan. So I decided to wait.”

“Wait for what? Me to get home and cook?” Drake replied, only partially processing her words as he tugged his shirt up over her hips so that she was no longer partially sitting on it, his focus almost entirely on her skin, her curves, her feel.

“Pretty much. Why? Do you have a better idea for how you want to celebrate your birthday?” Her voice was light and innocent, but Drake knew her better than that. As he dragged his eyes up the deep stretch of skin his shirt left exposed on her, past the white lace that lay temptingly beneath the denim, past the ends of her black hair that was practically glowing in the setting sun, he saw her mouth twisted into a wry little smirk, her eyes playful and bright. And all he could do was tug her flush up against his hips and kiss her, soaking in the little groan she let out as he did so. Eventually, she leaned back just slightly, setting the glass off to the side before looping her arms around his shoulders, dropping kisses along his jaw as he slid his hands from her hips to the few buttons that stood between him and all that bare skin. 

“I _guess_ this works for a celebration,” she quipped as she threaded her fingers into his hair at the base of his neck, tugging just slightly, teasing him like she hadn’t obviously orchestrated this whole thing. 

“You _guess_? Sure thing, temptress,” Drake growled out, drawing a laugh from Riley that quickly morphed into something much more erotic as he slipped his fingers under the lacy panties to her center.

“For the record,” she sighed out, “I still think you should be more open to actually doing something for your birthday.” She leveraged herself up on his shoulders for just long enough to allow him to slide off her underwear before dropping back to the counter, her hands snaking under his grey shirt and working to tug it over his head. “But I figured this was a decent enough compromise.”

“Liu, if you want to celebrate my birthday _this_ way, I won’t ever fight you,” Drake responded before dropping his lips to her throat. For the first time in a long time, he was truly happy it was his birthday. Happy, without guilt or self-loathing or loneliness clouding the picture. And it was a damn good feeling. 

He hadn’t felt like anyone cared enough to really make his birthday his day until now. Until her. Sometimes, it still shocked him how much she loved him and how determined she was to show him he was loved. But the more time he spent with her, he was gradually learning not to question his luck, but just to embrace it. So he scooped her fully onto his hips and carried her to their bedroom. He was more than ready to celebrate.


	3. Sinking In

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When Drake finds out Riley is not ready to go, he takes matters into his own hands.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, this little fic was inspired by the gif included as a contribution to the "Flood the Bathroom Challenge" posed by drakeandcamilleofvaltoria on Tumblr.

“Liu, you ready?” Drake called out, stepping into their apartment and crouching down to greet Anderson as the corgi trotted over. He checked the time on his phone, grimacing slightly. It was already 7:20, which meant they were going to be cutting it very close for time. Extremely close. And Drake hadn’t eaten dinner yet.

Much to his chagrin, Riley had agreed to attend this apartment warming party in Manhattan instead of doing… well, basically anything else sounded preferable for a Friday night when she was off. But this one had him extra irritated. For one, a permanent position at the financial firm where Drake had been temping for the past two months had recently opened up, so Drake was staying late most nights to try and make himself known, and all he really wanted to do was order in some delivery and relax on the couch or preferably the bed with Riley. Additionally, he didn’t even understand why Riley had been the one Luke had texted to invite them to come celebrate his long-time girlfriend finally moving out to New York. Luke had been his coworker this past winter, but for some reason Riley was the one he’d chosen to stay in touch with. On top of all that, Riley had just agreed to this invite without even running it by him. It always drove him right up the wall when she did that shit. It was doubly annoying that he never had alternative plans to counter with when she did it.

But, they were going to this party, and if they wanted to grab some food on the way, they needed to leave right now. Drake had texted Riley, asking her to have Anderson fed and walked and to please be ready to go when he got home. Unfortunately, that didn’t seem to be what was happening here, as Riley was not in the main room of their apartment. Drake walked around their yet-to-be unpacked boxes, making his way toward their bedroom, loosening his tie as he went.

“Liu, come on, we need-” but his words died in his throat as he walked past the bathroom and saw a flash of dark hair out of the corner of his eye. He turned his head and there she was. She was not ready to go. Not even close. She wasn’t dressed. She wasn’t wearing any makeup. Her hair was piled on top of her head in a way he’d never seen her wear in public.

Instead of being ready to go, she was lounging in the bathtub. She had the good grace to look a bit sheepish about that fact, her head pulled back and her teeth bared in an embarrassed sort of grin. However, the fact that she was batting her eyelashes and had dropped her chin just slightly meant that she was about to try and flirt her way out of this one. The frustrating part was Drake knew she had a decent chance of success.

“What the hell, Liu?” 

“I know, I know. I’m not ready.”

“Obviously. Why did you tell me you would be?”

She bit her lip and blinked before she responded, “I meant to be ready, I really did.”

Drake rolled his eyes, raising an eyebrow and shaking his head at her. “Well, _that’s_ bullshit. You couldn’t be less ready.”

“That’s an exaggeration, Drake.”

“You’re fucking naked!” he called out, gesturing vaguely in her direction.

“I am,” she said, throwing him a wink and leaning on the edge. It was so fucking obvious she knew just how much skin she flashed above the bubbles with that little maneuver. 

“Oh no you don’t,” he said as he crossed his arms. “I’m not _that_ easily manipulated.”

“It was worth a shot,” she said with a shrug, leaning back into the tub.

“Liu! Come on, finish up. You need to get your ass in gear. What were you thinking, taking a bath tonight?”

She sighed, “I am sorry, Drake. I’ve just never had an apartment with a bathtub, and it just hit me how long it had been since I’d had a bath, and then the idea just kinda got stuck in my brain. I should have checked the time before I jumped in, I know.”

Drake let out a long sigh. It was hard to stay mad at her when she reminded him that the life they were living now, the one that was a lot more hard work and struggles than he’d had almost his entire life, was actually filled with a lot of luxuries for her, as inadvertent as her reminder was. The fact that she looked sexy as all get out, lounging there in all that water, her skin all wet and glistening, her cheeks glowing, her breasts pretty damn visible beneath the remaining bubbles, probably was a factor in his rapidly fading annoyance as well.

“Besides, it’s a party,” she continued, “It’s not a big deal if we’re a little late.” 

Drake shook his head, “I don’t _want_ to be late. The later we get there, the later we have to stay.”

“God, you are such an old man,” she said with a laugh, her head dropping back along the edge of the tub.

Drake wasn’t sure if it was her words, and his desire to prove them wrong, that spurred him on, or if it was the addition of her bared neck on top of everything else about her that was already turning him on, but all he knew was that he wanted her, right then and there. So, he strode into the bathroom and stepped into the tub, kneeling down over Riley’s legs.

“Drake!” she shrieked out, “What the fuck are you doing?”

He just bent over and kissed her roughly. He registered the sound of water splashing over the edge of the tub onto the linoleum floor as he sank further into the water, pressing his body against her slick skin. After a few moments, he pulled back, bracing his arms against the edge of the tub, staring down at her submerged beneath him. “Who are you calling an old man?” he growled out at her.

She just laughed, looping her arms around this neck and sliding her fingers into his hair. “You’ll be grumbling like an old man when we get evicted for flooding the bathroom.” But she kept smiling at him before leaning up and kissing him again. When she pulled back, she shook her head. “We’re going to be even later now, because you are _definitely_ going to have to change,” she said, running her hands across his shoulders.

“That’s not why we’re going to be late,” he said before pulling his shirt off and dropping it onto the floor. Her laugh echoed through the bathroom again as she tucked her legs to her chest before sliding them out to the edge of the tub, letting him sink back into the warm water completely. He fell in against her hips, dropping his lips to the crook of her neck as her hands slid down his chest, working to undo his belt and zipper, their movements sending more waves onto the floor. But Drake didn’t give a shit, not about the mess they were making, not about how late they were going to be, not about any of that crap. All that mattered at that moment was her.


	4. Stakes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Riley and Drake have a couple of bets to settle.

“I’m never going running with you again,” Riley said as Drake unlocked and opened the door to their apartment.

“Uh huh, sure,” Drake said, rolling his eyes and tossing his keys onto the counter before walking over, kicking off his shoes, and flopping down on their new couch. “I’ve heard that one before.”

“I mean it this time,” she replied, crouching down to greet Anderson before standing up and going to the kitchen to get herself a glass of water. “You feel compelled to turn even a simple jog into a competition.”

Drake burst out laughing at that. “Liu, you were the one bet me you could make it past the peninsula quicker than I could.”

“And I would have too, if that couple with the stroller hadn’t cut in front of me,” she insisted before gulping down her glass of water. “And you are gross and sweaty. Get off the couch.”

“Don’t be a sore loser.”

Riley rolled her eyes at him before sliding out of her shoes and socks. Drake only had a second to react, shielding his face with his arms as she whipped her sweaty socks at him.

“Just admit that your victory wasn’t a fair one,” she said as she walked to the couch and stood over him, tugging down her hair tie and shaking her hair out. She used her fingers like a comb as she stared at him expectantly.

“No way, Liu. If things had been reversed, I know you would be gloating right now.”

“Not true - I would have called for a rematch.”

“Bullshit!” Drake said with another laugh. Riley was insanely competitive, and Drake was sure if she had seen an opportunity to dodge a young family, leaving him in the dust, she would have taken it in a heartbeat. “It was usual stakes, right?”

Riley shook her head, “You’re such an ass. I can’t believe you’re gonna make me go to that greasy spoon diner again. Their coffee is disgusting.”

“I haven’t picked a place yet.”

“Okay,” she said with an exaggerated eye roll, “I’m sure you’re going to suddenly become Mr. Adventurous and go for a new post-bar restaurant.”

Drake knew she had him there. Their stakes on bets, unless otherwise specified, had become choosing the location for a late night snack or meal on Saturdays, either after bar close if Riley was working or just at the end of their night if she was off. Since their move, Drake had selected a small diner two subway stops before theirs every time it was up to him. He knew Riley didn’t like the coffee or hash browns there, but they had great, cheap burgers that tasted so _good_ after a few drinks.

“If you find me a place on our way home with better burgers, I’ll gladly switch it up, Liu.”

“Speaking of which,” she said before walking over to the table and grabbing her laptop, scattering her college registration paperwork just a bit in the process, “we still have a wager outstanding.”

“What are you talking about?” Drake asked as Riley climbed over him onto the couch, straddling his thighs and placing her laptop on his stomach.

“We never resolved where the hamburger was created. What do you say, Drake? Double or nothing?”

Drake grinned at her. He’d forgotten about their debate over dinner a couple of nights ago, but he was confident he would be winning this one as well. “Sure.”

Riley typed something into her computer, a frown quickly falling over her face. But she scrolled for a few more seconds, clearly looking for a loophole. “Well, here it says that most historians believe the first hamburger sandwich was created in Texas, where someone placed a burger between two slices of bread.”

“Yeah, keyword there being they placed the burger, which was clearly already invented, on bread. I told you; hamburgers are not an American creation.”

“I don’t think it should count unless you know where-”

“Germany,” Drake cut her off, chuckling lightly as she let out a massive sigh.

“How the fuck did you know that?”

“It’s literally in the name. Hamburg, Germany.”

Riley stared at him for a few seconds before replying, “You know, smug is a _terrible_ look on you.”

Drake just grinned even wider. Riley was always a bit of a sore loser, but her bad mood never lasted long. She would get over this quickly. “So I guess I’m picking where we go tonight _and_ next week,” Drake said, unable to resist gloating a little.

Riley rolled her eyes and sighed again, but nodded in acceptance. “Yes,” she groaned out, slamming her laptop shut.

“Come on, let’s get up and hop in the shower. We gotta get going so we can swing by Foodtown before you need to get ready for work.”

“Why do we need to go to Foodtown?” she asked as she popped off the couch and placed her laptop back on the table.

“Because you need to tell me what kind of frozen potatoes you want so I can make you hash browns tonight.”

“But you won fair and square-”

“And I’ll grab a burger as takeout, then we can come home, and you can have some hash browns you actually like. Deal?”

Riley gave him a massive smile before offering him her hand and tugging him off the couch. “Deal.”

Drake just shook his head as he leaned over and kissed her on the forehead. Getting his burger was no fun if Riley was miserable the whole time. Plus, it felt a little cruel to drag her to a restaurant she clearly disliked when she would be getting off after working a closing shift. 

“Don’t expect me to go easy on you next bet because of this,” Riley said as she pulled him towards the bathroom, still holding on to his hand.

“I wouldn’t dream of it.”

“Good,” Riley said before stopping abruptly in their little hallway, spinning around and stepping forward, pressing her chest against his, “because I fight _dirty_.”

All Drake could do was roll his eyes and scoop her over his shoulder in a fireman’s carry, her laughter echoing off the tiles as he took the last couple of steps into the bathroom. Because at the end of the day, sharing little moments like this with her already felt like a pretty big victory.


	5. Heat

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There are a couple of three word phrases that can be more important than “I love you” - “You were right” and “I was wrong.”

Riley let out a large sigh as she tossed and turned on top of the sheets. It was _boiling_. She was _boiling_. She was never going to fall asleep. She was practically naked, and she could still feel the sweat forming across her skin, sticking to the sheets beneath her.

She flipped onto her side and stared at Drake’s back, listening to the pattern of his breathing. He wasn’t moving, and his breathing was steady and even, but Riley was _sure_ he was awake. He was a much lighter sleeper than her. There was no way he was sleeping through _this_. 

As if the air conditioning unit could hear her thoughts, it sputtered extra loudly, clunking and rattling against the window frame. The fan was spinning, but it didn’t really feel like there was any air moving in the room. The air was heavy, sticky, and hot. This June heat wave had hit with a vengeance.

Not only was Riley wide awake and miserable, but she was annoyed. She had _told_ Drake they should buy a new window AC unit. The one in their bedroom was the one she’d brought from her old apartment. When they were at the store last weekend to buy one for the larger living room window, she’d told Drake that they should just grab a new small one for the bedroom as well. The one she owned was probably about 15 years old, and it hadn’t worked all that great the last time she used it two summers ago. Her subleaser hadn’t complained about it to her last year, but that didn’t mean much.

But Drake had insisted it would be fine and that he would be able to get it up and running again, even though he hadn’t even taken a peek at it. And so when they had gotten home, she’d left him to tinker with it while she installed the brand new unit in the living room, soaking in the blessed cool air it put out while ignoring the muttered curses and swears that drifted out of their bedroom that afternoon.

After several hours of work, Drake had emerged from the bedroom and told her the AC was working “just fine.” And that first night, it had worked okay. It may have run a little loud, but the bedroom had stayed nice and cool. But since then, things had only gone downhill. The next night, it had sputtered out intermittently, and the night after that, Drake had needed to smack it a couple of times to get it to even turn on. Every night had been shittier and shittier, but whenever she’d questioned Drake, he insisted it was working, and that it didn’t need to look or sound pretty to get the job done. 

But now tonight it seemed to be the worst case scenario - a loud AC unit that was not even functional. Riley knew Drake was just as miserable as her, but he was too stubborn to admit that she was right and he was wrong. He was going to act like their bedroom was perfectly comfortable, hence him pretending to be sound asleep. She flopped onto her stomach, flipping her pillow over and gaining a few minutes of relief, but before long, everything touching her skin was hot and oppressive once again. “Fuck it,” she whispered before rolling towards the side of the bed and grabbing her phone off the nightstand they’d found at the flea market.

“Drake Walker, I know you can hear me,” Riley hissed out as she sat up and climbed out of bed. “Your ‘I’m asleep’ act isn’t fooling anyone. You can enjoy the fruits of your labor in here, since you seem convinced everything is working with that piece of shit. I am going to get some actual fucking sleep out on the couch.” The only acknowledgement she got that Drake had heard her little tirade was a slight tensing of the muscles in his back, so Riley let out a little huff, walking into their living room and slamming the door behind her.

Anderson was excited to see her initially, but after a few belly rubs, he calmed down, returning to his armchair by the window, leaving Riley to turn on that unit, sighing in relief as cool air immediately started flowing across her face. She flopped down on the couch, waiting for the air in the room to cool off enough for her to drift off to sleep. She was almost there when she heard the rattling and clanging from the bedroom abruptly stop. She opened her eyes when she heard the bedroom door open and a few moments later, Drake emerged from the hallway, a sheepish look plastered on his face.

Riley slid up slightly on the couch, crossing her arms over her chest and cocking an eyebrow as Drake shuffled in place, eyes dropping to the floor before he spoke.

“Can I sleep out here with you?”

“No.”

“Liu… please? It’s unbearable in there.”

“And whose fault is that?”

Drake glanced up at her before he responded, “Riley… come on…”

“You know what I want to hear,” she said before sliding back down into the cushions, letting her eyes fall shut.

She heard Drake let out a big sigh before a very quiet, “You were right about the air conditioner.” She opened her eyes and stared at him, and after a moment he continued, “And I was wrong.”

“There you go,” she said, opening her arms and nodding for him to join her. He climbed onto the couch with her, the two of them taking a moment to find a position that was comfortable. Riley noticed that Drake was careful to position her so that she would get to enjoy more of the cool air from the unit, an apology in actions, if not in words.

“I’ll go pick up a new unit for the bedroom tomorrow,” Drake muttered into her hair, “It was a mistake to assume I could fix it up without taking a look at it. I should’ve trusted your judgement.”

Riley smiled against his shoulder, threading her fingers into his hair along the back of his neck, stroking her other hand along his back. She’d known he was a stubborn ass when she’d fallen for him, but at the end of the day, he was _her_ stubborn ass. And she knew he wouldn’t be the man she loved if he was any different. So she just nodded, letting the rapidly cooling air and the newfound peace and quiet carry her to some much appreciated sleep.


End file.
